It is well known in motor vehicle seat belt systems to pivotally mount a guide loop on the pillar to deflect the belt from a seat belt retractor mounted on the floor to a diagonal position across the occupant upper torso. These seat belt retractors typically include a locking mechanism which locks the belt against unwinding from the retractor in response to the onset of a sensed vehicle deceleration condition.
It is also known in prior art to provide a clamping mechanism which is associated with the guide loop assembly and functions to clamp the belt against sliding movement through the guide loop in consequence of imposition of an occupant restraint load on the belt. Examples of such belt clamping guide loops include Weman U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,847,434 issued Nov. 12, 1974; Balder 3,898,715 issued Aug. 12, 1975; Lindblad 4,009,510 issued Mar. 1, 1977; Jahn 4,341,359 issued July 27, 1982; Lefeuvre 3,886,374 issued May 27, 1975; Lefeuvre 3,924,875 issued Dec. 9, 1975; Takada 4,208,770 issued June 24, 1980; Mauron 3,911,535 issued Oct. 14, 1975; Pickett 4,310,175 issued Jan. 12, 1982; Shimogawa et al 4,371,127 issued Feb. 1, 1983 and Furusawa et al 4,310,176 issued Jan. 12, 1982.
The present invention provides a new and improved clamping guide loop assembly.